In an appearance on the “Your Money with Chuck Jaffe” podcast, McKee — whose newsletter tries to find the right times to be in the market while also tilting toward sectors with momentum — said that “right now, we’re investing in the small-cap and mid-cap area, with a smattering of precious metals and natural resources in the portfolios.”

“It has always been interesting to me that there might be 50 different small-cap managers and they are all basically looking at the same universe,” McKee said, “but yet there is a wide spread between what the top ones are doing and what the bottom ones are doing.”

McKee said that the stand-out issues in the hot market areas include Artisan Small Cap
ARTSX, -0.45%
and Mid Cap
ARTMX, -0.78%
Brown Advisory Small Cap Growth
BASAX, +0.11%
, Janus Enterprise
JDMAX, -0.18%
and the iShares Silver Trust
SLV, -1.85%
. He noted that the silver ETF is currently the top of the class in the precious metals arena. While gold issues like iShares COMEX Gold
IAU, -1.11%
or SPDR Gold Shares
GLD, -1.12%
both get good marks from McKee’s ranking system, silver is the best bet, at least right now.

During the “Hold It or Fold It” segment of the program — when guests issue opinions on audience requests — McKee said that for investors to avoid the syndrome of “buy, hold and forget,” they need to back away from some big-name, high-reputation funds that have become no better than average performers. In that vein, he put a “sell” recommendation on Janus Overseas
JAOSX, -0.82%
Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock
FLVCX, +0.16%
Vanguard Primecap
VPMCX, +0.03%
Fairholme
FAIRX, +0.44%
and CGM Focus
CGMFX, -0.12%
He put a buy recommendation on the Permanent Portfolio fund
PRPFX, -0.29%

McKee put a sell on the PowerShares Fundamental High Yield Corporate Bond exchange-traded fund
PHB, +0.11%
but noted that he likes the corporate high-yield area, and said that investors currently are better off in that space using a managed fund — like Fidelity Capital & Income
FAGIX, +0.10%
or Nicholas High Income
NCINX, +0.11%
— than an ETF with a more static portfolio.

McKee also suggested that investors sell the iShares Barclays 20-plus Year Treasury Bond ETF
TLT, -0.18%
although he said it’s the kind of issue that can turn around and become a buy again in short order.

MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe hosts the “Your Money” podcast every Monday, interviewing money managers on their market outlook and including picks and pans on stocks that the MarketWatch audience wants to know about. If you’d like to submit a stock or fund for future review, send your name, hometown and the ticker symbols you are interested in to cjaffe@marketwatch.com.

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